Green Technology innovation intends to enable the advancement of technologies toward the goals of human health, natural resource sustainability and social equity. Green technology innovation has become an important driving force for the sustainable growth of the global economy. In this study, building upon the theories on informal institutions, we empirically investigate the effects of social trust on green technology innovation. Using a sample of companies listed in A-share markets in China from 2012 to 2017, we find that social trust has a significant positive impact on the performance of green technology innovation. We employ an instrumental variable approach through two-stage-least square estimator, and report consistent results. Further heterogeneity analysis finds that with higher levels of policy uncertainty and lower levels of intellectual property rights protection, the effect of social trust on firms’ green technology innovation is more significant. Further, the effect of social trust on firms’ green technology of non-SOEs innovation is larger than SOEs. In addition, the positive effect of social trust on green technology innovation in firms is an effective supplement for formal systems to promote green technology innovation in said firms, which provides a new theoretical reference for promoting firms’ green technology innovation and achieving high-quality development.

Using the manually collated data on the employment of academicians as independent directors by Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2020,the role and impact mechanism of academician independent directors on enterprise green innovation were empirically analyzed. The research shows that the academician independent directors promote green innovation of enterprises by alleviating corporate financing constraints,increasing corporate R&D investment and alleviating managerial myopia, and their role in promoting green invention patents is greater than that of green utility model patents.The academician independent directors will improve the green innovation level of enterprises in non-heavy polluting industries and enterprises in the eastern region,and the nature of propert rights and the degree of marketization will strengthen their role in promoting green innovation.